Oil well cellar bracing bracket



April 12, 1955 H. K. KATZENMAIER OIL WELL GELLAR BRACING BRACKET yFiledApril 3, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENgOR. H/ /a Zzezzmcz z er) ATTDRNEYSApril 12, 1955 H. K. KATZENMAIER 2,706,004

O-IL WELL CELLAR BRACING BRACKET l Filed April 3, 1952 .22mlT 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTD RNEYS United States Patent O OIL WELL CELLAR BRACIN G BRACKET HenryK. Katzenmaier, Coalinga, Calif.

Application April 3, 1952, Serial No. 280,423

2 Claims. (Cl. 166-75) This invention relates to oil wells of the typehaving a cellar or pit around the upper end of the well, and inparticular supporting struts for bracing the end of a well casing in thecellar which make it possible to eliminate welding and which facilitatethe installation of well drilling equipment.

The purpose of this invention is to eliminate the necessity of weldingthe upper end of a well casing in a pit or cellar and reduce thepossibility of breakage in the operation of the well drilling rig, to aminimum.

In certain types of oil fields where wells are drilled through a seriesof strata such as a surface stratum of erosional material, a limestonestrata directly beneath the surface stratum, a water-yielding stratum ofsandstone, a stratum of shale, a second stratum of limestone, and asecond stratum of sandstone which yields gas or oil or both, it has beenfound advisable to use a cellar or pit around the upper end of the wellwhich extends into the limestone stratum and in order to brace the upperend of the well casing in these cellar bracing members, which extendfrom the well casing to corners of the well are Welded to the wellcasing and also to brackets or bracing members at the corners. With theparts welded in this manner wherein a rigid type of construction isprovided the parts crack or break when subjected to shock loads and withthe parts welded they are difficult to replace. Furthermore where it isnecessary to weld each joint in the eld considerable time is required toinstall the bracing structure. For the same reason considerable time isrequired to remove the structure when the drilling rig is removed.

With this thought in mind this invention contemplates an assembly ofbrackets for securing the ends of bracing members to the inner surfacesof walls of a well cellar or pit whereby the inner ends of the bracingmembers may be held in collars extended radially from a sleeve on theupper end of the surface pipe and also wherein a diagonal bracing membermay be bolted to a flange of the sleeve and secured in a corner of thecellar to prevent rotation of the Well casing. t

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means for formingwell cellar bracing brackets whereby bracing members extended from theupper end of a surface pipe of a well may readily be installed andremoved.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bracket forretaining ends of well bracing members in position against the walls ofa cellar surrounding the upper end of the well wherein the possibilityof breakage is reduced to a minimum.

A further object of the invention is to provide bracing member retainingbrackets for cellars or pits around the upper ends of Wells that may beinstalled without welding and which provide supporting members of simpleand economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the inventionembodies a well bracing member bracket formed with semi cylindricalsockets which extend from mounting plates and wherein the mountingplates are provided with projections for anchoring the plates inposition upon a wall surface. The invention also includes a cornerbracket for retaining a diagonally positioned bracing member in positionwith one end anchored in the corner and the opposite end bolted to aflange of the upper end of the surface pipe of the well.v

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in connection with the drawings, wherein:

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Figure 1 is a sectional plan taken on line 1 1 of Figure 2 illustratingthe improved bracing member brackets i n position in a pit or cellar ofa well.

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the well, being taken on line 2-2of Figure l.

.Figure 3 is an elevational view taken on line 3--3 of Figure 4 showinga side view of one of the bracing niember brackets.

Figure 4 is a front elevational view looking toward the face of thebracket.

.Figure 5 is a side elevational view taken on line 5--5 of Figure 4illustrating a chain lock of the bracket.

Figure 6 is a cross section through the socket of the bracket taken online 6-6 of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a detail illustrating a locking element positioned on theend of one of the latch elements of the bracket.

Figure 8 is a plan view showinga modification wherein the bracket isadapted to be positioned in a corner of a well or cellar.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters denotecorresponding parts the improved well cellar brace retaining bracket ofthis invention includes a base plate 10, having a socket formed with alower arcuate substantially semi-circular socket or section 11 and anupper arcuate complementary socket member or sectionv 12 extendedtherefrom and the base plate which is provided with prongs 13 ispositioned against the face of a wall Awith the projections 13 extendedinto the wall to provide anchoring means and with the brackets retainedin position in this manner the bracing members 14 held in the socketextend to collars 15 on a sleeve 16 of a surface pipe as indicated bythe numeral 17.

The lower section 11 of the socket is secured to the base plate 10,preferably by welding and with the sections extended outwardly from thebase plate the end of a bracing member 14 may be clamped therein by anL- shaped pin 18 extended through meshing cylindrical elements or eyes19 and 20 of the sections 11 and 12, respectively, the sections beinghinged at the opposite sides with similar cylindrical elements 21 and 22and a pin 23.

The cylindrical elements 20 at the outer end of the sleeve are providedwith an extended end formed with a semi-circular section 24 carried byan arm 25 and provided with a recess or notch 26 in which the verticallydisposed section of the locking bolt 18 extends, as illustrated inFigure 5.

The bolt 18 is secured to the bracket with a chain 27 which is attachedto the end of'the bolt through an eye 28 and the bolt is secured, at theopposite end, to an eye 29 on the under surface of the section 11.

In the design illustrated in Figure 8 a corner base plate 30, similar tothe base 10 is also provided with a socket as indicated by the numeral31 having a hinge 32 at one side and a latch 33 at the other, and inthis design the base plate 30 is provided with supporting elements suchas the plates 34 and 3S which are positioned to form a right angle atthe point 36 with the opposite edges of the plates secured, preferablyby welding to the edges of the basefplate 30. The plates 34 and 35 areprovided with projections 37, similar to the projections 13 of the plate10. This bracket is particularly adapted for anchoring a bracing memberin a corner as shown in Figure 1.

The bracket illustrated in Figure 8 and formed with a base plate 30 isparticularly adapted for holding a diagonally positioned bracing member,as indicated by the numeral 38 in a corner of the cellar 39 and, asillustrated in Figure 1, the bracing member is provided with anextension 40 with a flange 41 thereon and the extension 40 is secured toa flange 42 of the upper end 43 of the surface pipe 17 by bolts 44. Withthe bracing member 38 mounted in this manner it is particularly adaptedfor preventing clockwise rotation of the surface pipe or well casing.

The sleeve 16 extended upwardly from the upper end of the surface pipeis provided with collars 15 into which the ends of the bracing members14 extend, as shown in Figure 1 and 2 and with the parts assembled inthis manner the surface pipe is rigidly held in position without 4permanently connecting the bracing members to the surface pipe or wellcasing and wall of the cellar.

The parts are readily installed by dropping the bracing members 14,extending from the collars 46, into the sockets with the upper sections12 of the sockets in the open postions and after the ends of the bracingmembers are dropped into the sockets the sections 12 are closed andlocked by the bolts 18.

With the elements assembled in this manner the direct shock loadresulting from rigid or welded joints is obviated and the possibility ofbreakage in the mounting is substantially eliminated. The parts may alsobe readily removed and replaced and the entire supporting structure maybe installed or removed in a comparatively short time.

It will be understood that modications may be made in the design andarrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of theinvention. v

What is claimed is: p

1. A bracket for surface pipe pit holders comprising a base plate havinga substantially semi-circular section of a socket extendedperpendicularly from one side, a substantially complementary socketsection positioned to coact with the semi-circular section to form acylinder, adjacent edges of said semi-circular section and com#plementary section having spaced aligned eyes thereon and one of saideyes of the semi-circular section having a notch in one side, anL-shaped pin positioned with one arm thereof extended through the spacedeyes and' with the other arm positioned in the notch of one of the eyes,said base plate having supports extended from edges thereof and saidsupports and base plate positioned to form a triangle with extendededges of the supports meeting at the vertex of the triangle, the meetingedges of the supports being provided with spaced pins adapted to beimbedded in a corner formed by meeting edges of concrete walls foranchoring the base plate with the socket elements thereon in said walls.

2. In a lateral support for a surface pipe extended through arectangular-shaped pit, the combination which comprises brackets havingbase plates with substantially semi-circular sockets extendedperpendicularly from one 4 side and having pins extended from the othermounted against the inner wall surface of the pit and positioned toengage side Walls of the pit at points spaced midway between cornersthereof, horizontally positioned laterally disposed collars adapted tobe positioned around the surface pipe and also adapted to be alignedwith axes of the sockets of the base plates, one-piece rods positionedwith ends thereof extended into the collars and with opposite endsthereof positioned in said semi-circular sockets, complementary socketmembers adapted to coact with the semi-circular sockets to formcylinders, said semi-circular sockets and complementary socket membershaving spaced aligned eyes on adjacent edges, pins adapted to beextended through said spaced aligned eyes for retaining thecomplementary socket members upon the substantially semi-circular socketmembers, said surface pipe having a flange thereon, a corner base platehaving a substantially semi-circular socket extended perpendicularlytherefrom and having plates extended from edges thereof which, with thebase plate, form a triangle and the meeting edges of said plates havingspaced pins extended therefrom, a complementary socket member positionedto coact with the substantially semi-circular socket member of thecorner base plate to form a cylindrical socket, a one-piece rod extendedfrom said cylindrical socket to said flange of the surface pipe, andmeans for temporarily connecting said one-piece rod extended from thesocket of the corner base plate to said flange of the surface pipe andpositioned on one side of the axis thereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 653,307Millholland July 10, 1900 1,142,246 Gagan June 8, 1915 1,726,948 DownsSept. 3, 1929 1,820,391 Hartman Aug. 25, 1931 2,482,616 Gregory et alSept. 20, 1949 2,584,022 Johnson Jan. 29, 1952

